BRIDGEPORT - A Shelton chef is facing up to 10 years in prison after a jury on Thursday found him guilty of fatally stabbing a local man following a road-rage incident on the Route 25/8 Connector.

The families of both Tony Espinal and his victim, Bryant Kelly, burst into tears as the jury of five women and seven men announced after two and a half days of deliberation that the 39-year-old Espinal was not guilty of murder but guilty of the lesser charge of second-degree manslaughter.

“Certainly we are disappointed there was any conviction but we are going to take it step by step and my client continues to have the support of his family,” Espinal’s lawyer, John R. Gulash, said later.

At the urging of Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney C. Robert Satti Jr., Superior Court Judge Robin Pavia agreed to increase Espinal’s bond from $250,000 to $325,000 and continued the case for sentencing to Jan. 19.

The 27-year-old Kelly was stabbed to death following a confrontation with Espinal on the highway on Dec. 18, 2014.

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Shortly before 11:30 that night state police said they got a 911 call from a man who was trying to report a car accident southbound at the Exit 5 off ramp. On the call the dispatcher could hear both the voices of Kelly and Espinal.

Police said there was the sound of a scuffle on the phone, a few moments of silence and then Espinal states, "Sorry about that," to the dispatcher. Espinal then tells the dispatcher he drove away because he was being pushed and punched, at which point the dispatcher tells him to stop his car and wait for police.

State police were sent to the scene and discovered Kelly lying on the ground by his 2009 Nissan Altima at the off ramp unresponsive with multiple puncture wounds to his arm and chest, police said. He was taken to St. Vincent's Medical Center where he died about an hour later.

During the two-week trial Espinal testified that he got out of his car to take a photograph with his cell phone of Kelly’s license plate after Kelly’s car hit his car.

He claimed that Kelly then grabbed the front of his jacket and punched him in the face. Fearing for his life he claimed he pulled a folding knife from his pocket and stabbed at Kelly but he said he did not realize he had actually hit the victim.

At the direction of Satti, Espinal then stood up in the witness box and using a pen showed how he had stabbed at the victim.